This was September 11, 2001 for my family. My sister died two months prior and my dad was active military. Living on the west coast, the attack was very early for us and I’m not sure what got my mom to wake me up but she did and in a very weird way I’m thankful for it. I rather have known what happened than hear it afterwards. Being a child, it was a very surreal day. I thought I understood death and its magnitude after my sister died but I couldn’t comprehend this kind of scale.
I know we make light of it the event on the internet (I’m totally guilty of that too)… However I’ve been seeing videos of personal recounts of people there in the moment and it’s made me check myself. My families life changed fundamentally but it pales in comparison to so many others.
There’s a certain account that animates personal stories (that I believe are largely NY/east coast based) called Story Corps. Every single post has made me cry.
For all those whose lives were changed through this tragedy, I’m so sorry.
I was 15 at the time and at home sick from school..but same situation, my mom woke me up and told me something was happening. The 2nd plane hit right after I started watching. At first I thought “oh, how on earth did a plane accidentally strike a building?” But once the 2nd plane hit, the situation became much clearer.
And I just remember both of us sitting in front of the TV, becoming increasingly horrified. I remember feeling completely unable to conceptualize or process the scale of what was happening. And being completely confused about what to feel in the moment while I was watching this.
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u/reddot_comic Finessed Impropriety 15h ago edited 14h ago
This was September 11, 2001 for my family. My sister died two months prior and my dad was active military. Living on the west coast, the attack was very early for us and I’m not sure what got my mom to wake me up but she did and in a very weird way I’m thankful for it. I rather have known what happened than hear it afterwards. Being a child, it was a very surreal day. I thought I understood death and its magnitude after my sister died but I couldn’t comprehend this kind of scale.
I know we make light of it the event on the internet (I’m totally guilty of that too)… However I’ve been seeing videos of personal recounts of people there in the moment and it’s made me check myself. My families life changed fundamentally but it pales in comparison to so many others.
There’s a certain account that animates personal stories (that I believe are largely NY/east coast based) called Story Corps. Every single post has made me cry.
For all those whose lives were changed through this tragedy, I’m so sorry.